


We Will Remember Them

by alexcat



Series: For the Fallen [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, F/M, M/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), menition of Steve Rgoers/Natasha Romanov, mention of Steve Rogers/Tony Stark - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-06 01:19:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19052350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/pseuds/alexcat
Summary: The end has come and Steve and Thor say their goodbyes.





	We Will Remember Them

**Author's Note:**

> They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:  
> Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.  
> At the going down of the sun and in the morning  
> We will remember them.  
> ~~ Laurence Binyon

It was done. Thanos was dust. The ones who’d been turned to dust by him were restored. 

Steve was devastated yet again. 

Tony was gone. He’d given his life in the Snap that saved them. 

Tony was gone. 

He couldn’t wrap his head around it. Stark was a force of nature and had been since he’d been thawed and sent out to save the world. 

Pepper made Avenger’s Tower in the city available for those displaced by the destruction of the headquarters. He had an apartment in Brooklyn, but he had stayed at headquarters most of the time in the last five years. He moved into the tower, as did Thor. 

They actually stayed in adjoining apartments. Thor still had a tendency to eat Poptarts and drink beer all day if someone didn’t prod him. Steve did that. 

Taking care of Thor kept Steve from falling apart most of the time. 

Sometimes he fell apart anyway. 

Those days, Thor took care of him. 

Bruce and the others were working on rebuilding the time machine, since the one they’d used had been destroyed by Thanos. This time, they had Tony’s science and Hank Pym was still around to make enough Pym particles for them. They needed to put the stones back where they’d gotten them. They all were still arguing among themselves over who would go. 

One evening as Steve was getting ready for bed, Thor came in through the adjoining door. He looked like he had something to say, but said nothing. 

“What can I do for you?” Steve finally asked when it looked as if Thor might never move or speak. 

“I know,” Thor said with a smile.

Though time doesn’t heal, grief becomes an old friend. People live and love and laugh again. They carry their grief as a reminder of those they lost, as reminder of what once was. 

“What do you know?” Steve sat beside him. 

“Back at the party before Sokovia, when you moved Mjolnir a tiny bit, you were faking.”

“Why do you say that?” Steve had known that Thor would get around to this question eventually. 

“Because I know you. You were always worthy. You did it to save my feelings.” 

“I couldn’t lift it after all the crap we’d all said. It was important to you, to us, that I not lift it. Besides, even you and I were a bit drunk.”

“So you were faking.” Thor looked smug. 

“Did I say that?” Steve lifted an eyebrow and moved a little closer to Thor. 

“Did you need to?” 

“You’ll never know,” Steve leaned close and kissed his cheek, an obvious diversion. 

Both of them forgot about Mjolnir for a while as they became occupied with more physical pursuits. 

*

Thor had taken a trip to New Asgard a few days prior. Steve was surprised when he returned so quickly. Or at all. He had expected Thor to take over as leader of his people now. 

“What are you doing back?”

“I made her king.”

“Her?”

“Valkyrie. She’s always been their leader there. I – I need something else. My mother told me to be myself, not who I am supposed to be. I plan on honoring that.”

“What will you do?” Steve sensed that there was a goodbye coming soon, but then he had some goodbyes of his own coming as well. 

“Rabbit has asked me to journey with the Guardians for a while. I like him and I can live with Quill and the rest. We will look for Gamora, I suspect, though I am not sure Quill will ever find her. Maybe we shall do some good out there. Who knows?”

Steve had not expected that his heart would ache like it did at the thought of Thor leaving. He had come to love the god as a friend and comrade. The physical love they shared had always been more comfort than lust though there certainly was enough of that as well. 

He needed to tell Thor his plan. He had told Bucky and he wasn’t going to tell anyone else. They’d find out soon enough, as it was. Bruce would try to talk him out of it and Sam might, too. He would miss them all. 

But he was going to follow Thor’s mother’s advice and live the life he wanted as well. 

“I am going to make another few stops when I take the stones home,” he said, almost casually, to Thor. 

“Oh?” Thor was no fool. He’d known that Steve was planning something big. He’d seen it in the sad smiles and the evasive answers he got sometimes when they talked about Captain America’s future. 

“I have talked Pym into giving me enough particles to visit the past, to see Natasha and Tony and tell them goodbye. I never got the chance to do it and I,” he stopped and a tear rolled down his cheek. He had not cried for Tony yet. ”I need to tell them, to see them both one more time.”

Thor put an arm around his shoulder and pulled him a little closer. 

“After that, I will journey back to Peggy Carter. I - I want to find out what I might have had, I want a life – with a wife, a family and all that comes with it.” 

Thor did not look surprised at this either. “Then I will not see you again?” His face fell a little at the thought. 

“Probably not. I wanted to tell you. We are, we have been – close – and you deserve to know.”

Thor pulled him into an embrace. “Can we share a last night then? I should like the memory.” He kissed Steve.

“So would I,” Steve murmured as they kissed again. 

Hands and mouth were busy, kissing, touching, and soon, they moved to the bedroom. The light from the city that never sleeps shone in on them, outlining their faces as they loved each other once and again until the night became the dawn. 

When morning came, Thor packed his belongings, including those awful flannel pants and that damned bathrobe that Steve was sure he’d thrown away. 

“Rabbit will be ready soon,” he said, turning to Steve. He pulled him close and kissed him. “I will miss you and your wisdom.” He thought a minute and added, “And your kisses. You’re the best kisser I’ve met.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, coming from a god.” 

Thor laughed and hugged him. 

*

Steve sat on front porch, waiting for Peggy to come home. She’d gone shopping for something for them to make for dinner. Life was always busy with Peggy at SHIELD. She never knew when she’d be called away. He drew comic books and newspaper cartoons for a living and he often worked at home. He worked sometimes with a comic writer called Stan Lee. He was sure the young man was destined for greatness. 

He thought of them. 

Natasha.

Tony. 

Natasha, fierce and proud, a woman with no past and no family. She had loved and protected them all, even to her dying breath. He’d learned a lot from her. He learned how to fight and how to love. She never let him make excuses, never let him get by with anything. She’d made a better man out of him.

He thought of her every single day. 

He missed her every single day. 

Peggy held him on the nights that his grief was too much to bear. She loved him with all her heart, but he would never be quite like he had been before. He had seen too much and hurt too deeply. 

His grief for Tony was something he didn’t talk about often. He had loved Tony so much. They had been like the opposite sides of the same coin. Or maybe they had just been opposites, but their differences had made sparks fly from the minute they met. Their love and their friendship had been rocky and hard, but worth it every step of the way. 

The seven years they’d been apart had melted when Tony came to tell them he’d found the answers to their time hack problems. 

Sometimes when he saw something new, a new piece of technology, he’d think how funny Tony would find it. He wanted to tell Tony stories about Howard and would think he’d just call him then he’d remember that Tony was gone.

It felt like drowning when that happened. 

Peggy, again, would hold him until his pain lessened. She never asked a lot of questions. That he had moved in time to be with her was enough. No woman could have asked for more. 

He never told her of the god that he’d loved. Sometimes, when he sat on porch and waited for her to come home, he thought of Thor, with his flannel pants and his hammer and hoped his life had turned out as happy as Steve’s had.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the end of this little series. I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
